Courage
by Orson Bean“What puts the musk in muskrat? Courage!” Thus sings the great Bert Lahr in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Courage. In what short supply is this emotion in our country today. My wife and I just finished watching the HBO miniseries JOHN ADAMS. How brave our founding fathers were. And their fellow colonists as well. Children were not coddled. They learned at their parents’ knees that life was hardscrabble and nothing came easy. Freedom was worth fighting for. Divine Providence was what they relied on, but they knew that God demanded that they do their parts. No sense of entitlement, just hard work, struggle and fighting for what you wanted. And if it didn’t come, no whining, just rolling up of sleeves and starting over.
When at the age of ten I was sent to summer camp, the rule was no phone calls to or from parents. The separation from home was to be complete. I remember the boy in the bunk underneath me, Mouse Taylor, crying for his mom the first few nights. The counselor, an eighteen year old Norwich student and the first grown-up we came to worship, was unmoved. Growing up was what we were there for. At the end of the summer, Mouse and I had tears in our eyes as we parted forever (we had become fast friends) but that was the only crying we had done for all of July and August. Recently in the New York Times, a piece ran on how summer camps today have to hire specialists to deal with anxious parents calling sometimes several times a day to see how junior is doing. Kids are given cell phones, sometimes two in case the first is confiscated. We are raising a nation of sissies.
As fear of God and his righteous wrath is removed from the public arena, our bodies become what we worship. And with what terror do we attempt to protect them. California recently became the first state in the union to ban all trans-fats from restaurant cooking (New York City had already done so). Smoking is outlawed, of course, even on the beach. Billboards everywhere remind us to eat our vegetables and fasten our seatbelts.
Remember the seesaw? You won’t see one in a public playground today. Jungle Gyms are rare. Anything that could hurt you. Not just your bodies but your feelings. In public schools in Massachusetts nobody wins at (competitive?) sports. The score is not kept. More and more universities decline to have a valedictorian address the graduates. The second smartest kid might feel bad. Remember when you invited a few of your best friends to your sixth grade birthday party? No more. The rule, at least in the public school my grandkids go to, is that the whole class has to be invited or else no party. The celebrations become huge and meaningless.
Mothers Day cards were recently banned in one Manhattan school I read about because some kids don’t have mothers. For a while no peanuts were served on airplanes because nine kids in the country were allergic to them. (That one has become academic now since nothing is served). Children are promoted whether they can read or not. Their self-esteem might suffer. Won’t their self-esteem suffer when they can’t get a job? You can receive a ballot to vote here in California in Laotian, as well as thirty two other languages.
When I was a boy, high tech communication was two tin cans and a string. It took most of the afternoon to find the cans, soak off the soup labels, punch the holes in the ends and knot the cord. What fun it was at four o’clock when you pulled the string taut, stood at opposite ends of the vacant lot and tried to figure out if you were really hearing anything. Now you don’t see even the poorest kid without a blackberry or a raspberry or a dingleberry or whatever permanently attached to his ear. God forbid we should not be entertained for one second of the day.
We can’t drill in ANWR because some moose might be inconvenienced and, God forbid, the oil companies make more dough. Personally, I could go for candles and a bicycle. But shouldn’t we have the option? What the hell are we afraid of? That third world countries will hate us? Their people are all dying to get in here. There’s no illegal alien problem in Ethiopia. The great American work ethic is being kept alive by foreigners. Mexican guys hang out in front of the lumber yards looking for a days’ work. I say let them all in here. Inside of a generation, they’ll be adding to the GNP and voting Republican.
Alright, I know I’m rambling. I’m old. I used to walk to school through eight foot drifts of snow. But I love this country so damn much and I can’t stand the way people who don’t love it, even though they pretend to, are harming it. So we’re not perfect. Perfect is the enemy of better. And better we are, not just than any other country on earth but any other country in history.
Orson Bean’s new book M@il For Mikey is published by Barricade Books
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53 Comments
A while back I was having a conversation (possibly with myself) about the fear of death that permeates our culture of weenies and thought it related to the lack of faith. Remember falling off a bike without a helmet?
And Mouse Taylor is one of the best names ever.
I may not be a conservative but articles like this (I can only roll my eyes at all the coddling in schools) are why I don’t lean all the way in the other direction either!
I have lived in New Zealand for the last 9 years, here, kids still ride their bikes to school in our town of 20,000. They play sports on the weekend in the park (rugby no pads!)and real shock here parent actually go to watch them play not to make sure that they are not injured. Kids remain kids for a long time here. More and more in bigger cities you see kids getting into computers, rap music and playstations, however, even in the big cities on the weekend go to the local park and you will see kids playing sports, riding bikes and just being kids for a while. That is the way I remember growing up in CA, we spent every weekend biking with friends, building forts and just getting into mischief, it did not hurt us. Sorry to see those things going by the wayside. I think we are doing our kids and grandkids a big disservice by taking competition and achievment away and they grow up way to fast.
Mr Bean, I love your work.
Well stated Orson. I think the day of “Change” began with the Hippie generation who did not want to work for a living, enjoy their drugs and free sex and let papa pay the bills. We then got the Great Social Government of Johnson rammed down out throats where giving to deadbeats was considered Political Correctness, followed by the Fannie and Freddy of everyone can own a home whether or not they can afford it or make enough money to maintain payments along with the maintenance to keep it up. Parents instead of making children work for an allowance just handed over money and ever more money. No ethics or work values were installed which in turn has made them whiners when they do not get their way in asking for ever more money. Now all they know is to whine like spoiled children while the illegal people entering the states find work whereever they can and take the jobs in order to eat and have a place to live – even sending over $50 billion a year to foreign countries for their relatives who live on less than a $1 a day. Even Obama has a relative like this as disclosed in the news. We as a people has accepted the BS from Washington so long on Political Correctness that it makes one sick. Look back at the founders of our nation, no job security, no social security, no medicade, no 401K’s, It was families working to move ahead in life. People opened businesses, created products, hired people to help them expand as business grew, and we helped other countries over the years in fighting their wars, have give billions in foreign aid. Globalization is not what it was suppose to be in helping poor countries excape proverty as we have learned as the leaders only lined their pockets and started wars. American’s need to learn that a helping hand is needed at home and then when America has met its needs of No Proverty, No Unemployment, No Wars – then we can help the rest of the world. Notice that I did not include National Health Care as I find most of these programs only raise taxes without the needed coverage.
In some ways, I blame this on the news media and the people who have knee jerk reactions to the stories. In an effort to gain ratings, they blow incidents out of proprtion. They search for stories that frighten parents just so they can include teasers to get people to watch. The news all to often is not just the facts. The news today is crafted to cause people to react. Instead of doing more research, people all to often say “there should be a law” or go overboard in trying to protect their children from this “new” danger.
Thought provoking blog, Mr. Bean. Now if I could just get that loop that keeps repeating “What puts the Ape in Apricot” out of my head. . .
Because we are 40+ years behind the cultural indoctrination curve, I do not believe the GOP can make a difference just by trotting out some new leader, platform or promise.
What Andrew has wrought here, this small round stone in a sling of Truth, makes him my personal choice as the Hero of the conservative effort. Start young, start in the culture, move to the schools, own the narrative, set the example. I could care less who chairs the RNC.
And, above all that, this website rocks on every professional level. I hope you and Andrew and everyone who contributes to this effort know just how much it is appreciated.
May God bless you all in this adventurous undertaking!
Like Ethyl above, I love your work too.
“John Adams” is a masterpiece of biography. I thought the film was well done but not nearly as exciting as the book which featured long passages from the letters between John and Abigail, both founders of the country IMHO.
I wonder how many these days would consent to allow their child to travel to Europe with only one parent, to be absent for years. The journey John and John Quincy took together, outrunning British warships, crossing the Pyrenees by mule in the winter, would be worth a book or film in itself.
That kind of hardship and challenge produced steel in our early citizens’ character.
One of my favorite John Adams quotes, written I think to Abigail is (not sure if this is verbatim):
“We may not win this war but we can deserve to win.”
I’m glad we still have legions of wonderful young people still willing to serve and still helping us deserve to win through their honorable service and behavior in one of life’s most stressful tests, being shot at in anger.
The patriotism I see in everyday America (seldom reported by the MSM as we all know and viewed as a pathological state by all the foreign affairs experts in liberal Hollywood) puts the lie to liberal Hollywood’s, Harry Reid’s, Haditha Truther John Murtha’s (how did that @55#0(3 ever become a Marine?), and moveon.org’s seditious offerings and pronunciamentos.
I am on-board with your views; wholly agree. Yet I question this: “The rule, at least in the public school my grandkids go to, is that the whole class has to be invited or else no party.”
Does the Superintendent of Schools send out black helicopters on Saturdays? I see no rational way of a school enforcing this… except, I guess, after the fact? If your grandchild has a birthday party during which every classmate is not in attendance, is he or she suspended or expelled the subsequent Monday? How does the Bureaucracy *know*? Moles among the playground set?
I agree with your frustrations, I worry about a Disneyfied Sissy-Generation, etc., but this particular example sounds off, somehow…
Well said. I just heard of this website and the very first article I read is the very thing I have been thinking for a long long time. I watch as kids whine in stores, as kids whine at restaurants, as kids whine at their parents. And I’ve been thinking, what happened to our kids? I grew up in a small town in south Mississippi in Greene County. Nothing but woods and dirt roads. We had 2 and 1/2 channels to watch. We played outside in the woods. We picked ticks off our bodies at the end of the day. We built forts out of tree limbs and leaves. You get the point. WE DID A LOT OF GROWING UP. Hurricane Frederick hit and blew down trees all around our house and we had no power for almost a month. We had to go and catch chickens at a neighbors house because the chicken house was blown away. Every chicken we caught and slaughtered was ours for the keeping. I remember chasing chickens and ringing the neck and filling up a wheelbarrel. We ate chickens for what seemed like forever. I miss those days. We moved to a bigger city from there and I cried like my life was ending. But I soon adjusted, met friends and we started a bicycle gang (not like gangs we know today). We rode around the neighborhood having a blast. NO TV, NO Playstations, NO Ipods, NO internet. I look at kids today and see a lazy, whining, complaining society for the future. “United States of the Offended” is how it looks. I’ve ranted long enough. The experts wonder why our kids are obese. I see the parents at fault.
If you want to know what current society does to “real men” read “It’s Not About the Truth,” the story of the Duke Lacrosse players. HBO bought the rights to the story, but will it ever be made into a film? Given the narrative that we are all supposed to adhere to, it remains to be seen. Mike Pressler showed courage and conviction and was almost destroyed because of it.
Mr. Bean,
I grew up seeing you on TV, but had no idea how cool you really were! I’m looking forward to more of your essays.
Actually the line is “What makes the muskrat guard his musk?”
Cheers
Mr. Bean,
At the risk of giving offense, I feel compelled to point out that the exact line is, “What makes the muskrat gaurd his musk?” I only know because I just watched TWOO again during the Christmas holiday.
That aside, brilliant article, spot on. I thoroughly enjoy your appearances on the Dennis Miller Show as well.
Add to the fact that at least 72% of Americans are overweight or obese. Americans have become lazy and it is sad to see what is happening to the children. We are removing hardwork, competitiveness and personal responsibility from our society. Darn, I was waiting to be the cranky old person yelling at the kids to stay off my lawn but there are no children out playing.
If you have a bully you confront the bully. You don’t bend over. You don’t allow yourself to be beaten down. In life there is competition. Life isn’t fair. Even when they tell kids its OK to fail. Somewhere else another kid is growing up learning the opposite. Self esteem? I was taught thats earned. That there are consequences to your behavior. Great artical Mr. Bean. And dead on accurate.
The wussification of the American male has been underway for decades. In our schools, where misbehavior and disrepct toward adults is worse than rampant, we can thank trial lawyers and doctor spock, everywhere else it is liberal feminists who want men to act like women, and boys to act like girls. This country needs some tough love, not bail outs. Orson Bean for President!
Excellent article, more and more should be written just like it.
I cringed when I heard that teachers were no longer using red pens to correct papers, because it offends the sensitivities of the children. Seriously? I am one of those parents that can be blamed, I guess I started out coddling my youngest son. I was convinced by many that because my husband and I divorced he should be given slack. But I did not like what I saw developing. His teachers disagreed when I started taking charge again. They said I should send him to their “therapist” to help him through. I say HOGWASH. I yanked him out of public schools. I took away all cell phones, unsupervised internet access, phone priviledges, and so on. He is now home schooled. And as of next month due to financial constraints and I say a little good luck, we are moving to a small run down old farm house (with oil heat–cringe–) outside of town so he can learn what real survival means (not some show on TV) he will learn that hard work can help develop good character. But he is also going to learn (come hell or high water) how to be a kid through simpler joys in life. This is an ongoing process, and it is hard, that’s why fewer parents want to be bothered by it. Why breed if you really don’t want to deal with it? My parents were no-nonsense disiplinarians, but they let me be a child while I could. I may not be perfect, but I know I still have common sense. Times are tough people, it’s time to toughen up our children just so they will survive when we are NOT here to catch them when IT hits the fan!
Mr. Bean: I have been a fan for years! Even spoke with you once on the phone, years ago, when you were going to appear in Midland, Texas. (I worked for the Chamber of Commerce at that time). It was a thrill. It is even more of a thrill to read your blog and realize that you are on the same page as I! My kids were raised to accept disappointment, to work hard for what they get, and to respect their elders. When they did something wrong, and they knew it was wrong, punishment was swift and appropriate. Yes, I spanked. I believe there is a great difference between spanking and beating. If they submitted to the spanking, two or three licks sufficed. If they fought me, then four or five. I never received a call from any law enforcement agency telling me that one of my girls was in their custody because of a crime they committed. I never had one of my girls scream at me the way those kids do on that commercial for the “Turn you kids around” psycho-bable commercial. Today, my girls are grown. I have 6 grandchildren. The relationship between my children and me is great. They respect me and look to me for advice in their own child rearing. They have their children in church, learning to love and respect God, just as I had them in church. I don’t understand why people cannot see what is happening to the kids in the U.S. because of all the coddling and the protection of their “psychies.” God Help America!
After reading your essay, I didn’t know whether to laugh or barf! Your observations would make one dilly of a script depicting life in some bizarre alternate universe, except this “bizarro” world is what passes for reality these days! In the Politically Correct society being shoved down our gullets today, nobody’s ever responsible for anything because we’re all helpless victims. It’s never our fault, and how dare you be so judgmental?
Gheesh, if the Pilgrims had behaved the way the todays PC thought police demand they probably would have stayed on the Mayflower rather than risk harming the ecosystem of Plymouth Rock by stepping on it! The poor slobs were probably bottle fed as babies, and/or forced to keep score while they played cricket!
I agree heartily with the ideas in this post. In addition to being halfway through the “John Adams” series, I also read both volumes of Bennett’s, “Last, Best, Hope” over the last month. I was moved so many times by the conviction and courage of those who have made this country what it is, in the best sense of that phrase. I would suggest one alteration to the post. Courage should not be thought of as an emotion (1st paragraph), which implies that it is a feeling. Courage is actually a virtue, which means that is a moral habit that is inculcated by repeated acts of the will, by choice. This is key because one of the trends that Mr. Bean rightly laments is the emotional coddling that takes place today in our country and in Western civilization in general. Courage is the ability to act in spite of fear. It may be accompanied by that feeling in the chest when one commits to a challenging course of action. But it may also be paired with terror; the key is that the right action is pursued nonetheless. We must move away from feelings being the ultimate arbiter of our choices and even our happiness. Hume is dead; no more emotivism.
What makes Orson Bean post on BIG HOLLYWOOD…. COURAGE! God Bless you Orson Bean!
So you *do* believe in American Exceptionalism. I feel a measure of pity for my countrymen who do not. However, I think that the weaker we get (and allow our children to get) the less we deserve to feel exceptional. Just an important reminder that training a good citizen starts at home.
Mr. Bean:
I’ve enjoyed seeing you on the tube since the Ed Sullivan Show (I’m old too!). Thanks for your shot of courage with this morning’s coffee.
Re: all kids in a class attending parties… one needs no mole or helicopter to enforce this rule, because kids talk. “Wow that was a great party! Why weren’t you there?” And bing! there’s the light bulb – other kid wasn’t invited, feels terrible about it, and the first kid learns a valuable lesson about life.
Nowadays the teachers get wind of this sort of thing and it gets back to the parents that the kid’s in trouble for being “exclusionary” and “divisive.” Back not too long ago, the kids figured it out – they weren’t handed everything, they were just given guidance from parents and adults. We played in sandlots and learned how to handle winning and losing gracefully; we learned what we were good at and what we were lousy at; we learned how to arbitrate and negotiate amongst ourselves.
Off-topic (except to the extent that the author is the topic), but I’d like him to discuss sometime his experience working on the TV show DOCTOR QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN. I used to like that show until I kept picking up a pious “liberal” subtext. The basic premise of the show lent itself well to that kind of piety because it reflected to its adherents’ mind-set: superior (in both education and intelligence) woman from the bluest of “blue” states brings enlightenment to the benighted hicks of the West. And buy, were those townspeople dumb! Not only is it hard to imagine any of them surviving on the frontier, but they were incredibly dense to Dr. Quinn’s lessons. One week they’d be bigoted against the Indians, and Dr. Quinn would show them the errors of their way, and next week they’d be bigoted against the Chinese. Again, Dr. Quinn would have to educate them–and the very next week they’d be bigoted against the Irish or something.”Duhh, gee, Dr. Quinn, we know now it’s bad to be bigoted against the redskins and the Chinks, but we thought it’d be okay to be be bigioted against the Micks.”
1) When did the pussification of our culture start?
2) Who started voting for the first time about then?
3) When was the last time a Democrat could win national office without those votes?
4) Why does everyone frame their arguments like they’re talking to the group that has always voted?
Tow words for you: A – MEN!
Two words for you: A – MEN!
John of ARRGGH!
“What Andrew has wrought here, this small round stone in a sling of Truth, makes him my personal choice as the Hero of the conservative effort. Start young, start in the culture, move to the schools, own the narrative, set the example. I could care less who chairs the RNC.”
Big Hollywood is THE Foundation!
Dear Mr. Bean,
After I finished laughing I felt like crying. Your comically well-written points are SADLY true. I am doing my best to raise three children ranging from preteen, tween and teen in an age of coddling, entitlements and excuses. My only tool is to channel the spirit of my 8th grade teacher, St. Marie de Carmel. This practice has led my children to think I am unnaturally cruel and thoroughly insane, leading me to know I’m doing something right. Thanks for the wonderful post and for resurecting the word “dingleberry”. That was the most used term in my household growing up. EVERYBODY at some point in the day was deemed a dingleberry by my mother. I never thought much of it until my mother explained what a dingleberry is. If the berry fits…right?
My daughters’ school controls the party thing by not allowing students to distribute invitations on campus unless there is one for everyone in the class. It’s not so much that they’re banning the party as they’re protecting the feelings (in their minds) of the uninvited kids.
Hi, Mel!
Mr. Bean; Just saw this website talked about this morning on Fox & Friends, and, Wow! Your’s is the first article I read. I am blown away by how stunningly you hit the mark.
My husband and I have a daughter who is nearly 6. She gets an allowance ($1) for doing 3 chores a day. Her grandparents got her an American Girl doll for Christmas and my daughter would like another. (They cost just over $100 each.)
I simply told her that she has money she’s been saving, and she still can earn money from chores to buy another if she wants it. She took that on completely. Each day she readily does her chores, and hasn’t looked back. In fact, she now tells us which TWO A.G. dolls she will buy, by herself. She’s proud of that and so are we.
Very Respectfully,
TideFan
Correct up until you pandered to illegals. Look at a most wanted poster – same illegals you see (funny, I never seen them at lumber yards and I’m in Texas). Usually you see on America’s Most Wanted illegals wanting for raping children continuing to evade police as “day laborers.” Positive stereotypes about illegals are allowed, but negative truths, such as the ENORMOUS cost to society, vectors for disease, and penchant for crime or just flat-out bad behavior (driving drunk, being loud), can’t be told.
Well said. I do not believe embrassing technology has made us weaker but I do believe the lefts joy in blaming everything but the individual has. We have forgotten that judgement is a good characteristic for a person to have.
Some people misunderstand a respect for people willing to work hard to get what they want for support of illegal aliens. One thing you can’t deny is that most immigrants illegal or not will work rings around a 3rd or 4th generation American. I do not agree with amnesty in anyway shape or form but like the author I do respect someone valuing hard work over entitlement.
Roger E.
That’s interesting, thanks. I wonder ~ in the new electronic world do the kids need to pass out paper invitations at a particular Bureaucracy-controlled piece of real estate? I have no kids but would imagine most would send invites via Facebook, Myspace, etc [or 'old-fashioned' email(!)].
Not very important maybe, just a little thing that got my brain ticking.
R
Thanks for the memories, Mr. Bean. I won’t repeat what everyone has posted, but I had the same type of idyllic childhood. Another blow-back not mentioned about the “touchy-feely” way of raising children is where they believe that since they are all equal, they can do and say whatever they want to whomever they want. Bullying has become rampant in the last 15 years, which is why the tragedy at Columbine H.S. happened. My own son, who is now 21, was bullied for years. He was “the new kid” when we moved to TX from CA, and the other kids thought it great fun to make up all kinds of sick demented stories, which they told to the teachers, which the teachers of course believed. And the abuse was not all verbal. We tried to resolve the bullying for years by having him report the bully, and just walk away from any confrontation. It took my son getting his growth spurt in 7th grade, and him beating the snot out of the bully and me giving thinly veiled threats of a lawsuit during a telephone discussion with the principal to have the bullying cease. We are doing our children a great disservice by teaching them there are no consequences for their actions.
Amazing how that happens. Bully gets butt kicked. Bullying stops. Hmmmm.
Today you face criminal charges, fines, and children’s services if your child has taken enough, because of course it can’t be the childs fault. I was the new kid most of my school life, I learned early on that backing down and hiding in the corner only made it worse. I never sought out a fight, no one ever wins a fight, but I learned not to back down from one either. Few bullies ever came back for a second round and soon after my first fight I was left alone or making friends.
Thanks Orson. I was moved by the mini-series portrayal of John Adams too. It’s no wonder that this heroic epic cleaned up at both the Emmy’s and the Golden Globes. As opposed to the non-hero ethic that permeates our society today, the mini-series was a refreshing change, even if Laura Linney thinks John Adams was a commmunity-organizer.
Rich
Older kids would do that, but it’s been my experience that the younger kids, (K-4), do it largely by written invitation. This could be for a number of reasons but I suspect it’s mostly because their parents keep a close watch on internet access. Most of the really young ones don’t have the kinds of accounts that you mentioned.
Hi Mr. Bean,
What an excellent article. I’m going to e-mail it to my kids.
The city & towns around here all spent lots of $$$ upgrading playgrounds to remove ‘dangerous’ equipment such as monkey bars, high swings, and merry-go-rounds, and to install wood chips or other soft surfaces. What did they get for their money: EMPTY playgrounds. For any kid older than 3, they’re boring.
One subculture that has escaped sissification is swimming. It’s going to be subzero tomorrow, with bad driving conditions, but at 7 a.m. the coach will say, ‘GET IN THE POOL’ & practice will start.
Keep up the good writing.
Amen to that Mr. Bean! I’m 26 and my brother is 29, we were never spoiled as children. We weren’t neglected, but we never got everything we asked for. Quite often we were told, “If you want that that you need to earn money and buy it!” If we did something bad we were spanked (when we were small) and when we were older our Dad wasn’t above smacking us in the back of the head. We were taught to own up to our mistakes and take punishment rightful given. We were taught that, if some one takes a swing at you, swing back. We were taught to work hard, stand up for what’s right, help those in need, and do our best, succeed or fail. We were taught to confront fears. In short, our parents raised us to be strong of heart and mind, if not strong of body. I look at our founding fathers and wonder if, were I in the same situation, would I act the same? I think that, if I did, it would be because my parents made sure that I was raised to be strong and not mollycoddled as so many have been.
Great article. Many parents coddle their children and turn them into spineless, whining adults. Have anyone wondered why young boys don’t take after school (or weekend) jobs of mowing their neighbor’s yard anymore? It used to be that jobs like this helped build a young boy’s character, now they spend their time in front of the TV or computer playing endless video games with unlimited access to fat laden snacks. What a sorry bunch! The parents are worse than the kids themselves.
What a wonderful piece of writing! I’m sending it to my 84 year old father who will love reading what he’s been saying for years. Thank you so much, Mr. Bean.
Orson, you’re old, but there’s no reason to be stupid. The idea that people who disagree with you don’t love their country is part of the *Wingtard* theology — not to be confused with conservative ideology, btw — but I can’t imagine why you’d waste your/our time with it here. (Except to rile up the hooples, I guess. But they’re pretty riled up already.) The listed idiocies are just that, inane efforts by hapless folks who think they’re doing best by their families and their communities. They’re wrong, in your opinion and in mine. But the idea that they don’t love their country is absurd, lazy, and lackwitted.
But other than that, loved you on I’ve Got A Secret. What was Laraine Day like?
Great article!! I could not have said that better myself. Perhaps I can get some of my liberal professors to read this! Unfortunately MN is getting as bad as CA when it comes to this story.
Great commentary. As with Trent, though, you lost me at the mention of illegals voting Republican within a generation. Hasn’t happened and won’t happen any time soon. They didn’t vote for McCain, architect of amnesty and American Malinche. The great American work ethic is not being kept alive by foreigners, as unions are being revitalized by those foreigners, whom they court with entitlements. As for the poster who said illegals work rings around Americans, that’s as false a stereotype as the one promulgated by Bush’s oft-repeated reference to the “jobs Americans won’t do”. Some illegals work hard, some don’t, and some make long distance phone calls from the phones of the buildings they’re being paid to clean at night (a personal experience). People are people, and some work harder than others, regardless of their heritage or citizenshiip. Part of the problem is just what this piece is about, the weakening of future Americans through kid-gloved coddling (”Eek, a peanut!”). Most kids don’t know what a running lawnmower feels like, nor a manual lawn edger nor soapy rags with which to wash a car. We’re in large part raising a generation of soft, entitled sucklers who aren’t psychologically prepared for the real world. Good luck to us all, and keep writing, Mr. Bean.
Mr. Bean,
Your essay reminded me of quite a few conversations between my Grandfather and I. Now my kids are accusing me of the same old-timer sentiments! I just wish I was half as articulate as you when expressing these sentiments!
Mr Bean,
Thank you for a good laugh!
I could not agree with you more, either.
We have 8 kids. We are simply terrible parents by today’s reckoning because we have standards, and we stick to them.
We got rid of TV. We watch movies, and do have the internet and radio to get news as needed, but largely, we don’t use much media. If kids aren’t indoctrinated by TV commercials, they don’t whine in stores for stupid hunks of overpriced plastic and sugar disguised as ‘breakfast cereal’.
Our house is a kind of library. We have books on everything that interests us from ciphers and spies, wars and founding fathers, saints and sinners & fact, fiction & comedy. Nearly all the books were bought used. As was much of our furniture and most of our clothing. Nice stuff, though. Just didn’t have to go into debt to own it. And we do have debts (made that credit card mistake most Americans have done) and we are paying back our debts honestly and without b**ching about it. Its our own fault. Another thing we’re teaching our children: you can’t own everything you want, so don’t try, and you probably don’t need it now and may not need it at all. Think things through carefully before you spend.
We have sacrificed a lot for the last 21 years so we could finally buy our own house, with fruit trees and a enough land to have privacy & a few chickens. We have old cars that the kids have to help their father fix. We do much of our own work on our older house, learning how to do what needs done. We eat well, but simply, and mostly from scratch ’cause its a heck of a lot cheaper and tastes better.
If the kids want a big ticket item like a Wii or whatever the fad toy is, they have to work at odd neighborhood jobs and babysitting, save up, pool their money and buy it together. That means they take care of it, too, since they all had to work so hard for it. It also means they have to share it and they already know that if they whine to me, it goes into a closet for a week and no one plays. Keeps perspective.
Also, since they are out of doors quite a lot (which is safer than being indoors all day, as the punishment for saying “I’m bored” is being set to clean a closet or the basement or garage) they fall off bikes and out of trees, and can sit on a lazy summer day with their feet in the creek and a fresh-fallen apple in hand. After they mow the lawn and rake up the remains.
And we home school. The kids are involved in 4H and Scouts and stuff at church. They are well behaved, helpful and a lot of fun to be around and so are their home schooled friends. They also don’t seem to develop an aversion to their own flesh & blood in public. My kids and their friends don’t seem to consider members of the opposite sex prey. The respect they show family seems to ooze out into other relationships. We watch them and correct them, and instruct them. And pray it all works out in the end.
Basically, we let our kids be kids. But they are old-fashioned kids, too – they have to work, be respectful and we set high standards. There was a lot of wisdom thrown out by ‘experts’ who change their minds about every 5 years on how to raise children. Their ‘expertise’ has ruined a lot of families.
Orson, Another great post. I am beyond fed up with the daily news. I heard that Peublo actually banned all indoor smoking, even in your own home. NY state is working on added taxes for sugared soda. Malls here ban smoking OUTSIDE now (is the air ans atmosphere owned by anyone?) and it’s only getting worse with each day. I could go on and on, but what I dubbed the “subtle fascism” of liberalism and the politically correct has outrun even the most insane limits of my imagination.
It is not unreasonable to think that in the near future we will be required to remain safely secured in our own homes with helmet intact and only “pure and safe” regulated food and media supplied by the government/media complex to avoid any harm, upset or injury.
After reading these many great comments. I do not feel quite alone anymore.
I live in the ultra liberal state of Massachusetts. I can’t tell you how many times I have wnted to move to Texas or someplace where they kids are expected to become self-reliant human being, not overfed, undereducated, text messaging, computer surfing, MTV morons.
I was a teenager when MTV started, I never watched. I always thought that listening to music on the radio or album, was the best way. It taught you how to be creative and imagine what the song was about. That all got ruined when MTV(the artist) provided you with their image of the song. So much for having an imagination.
I will be damned if my 6 year old daughter turns out like these dumb bratty twits that I encounter nowadays.
What to stump a teenager, give him a rotary phone.
insert \”fan\” between country and either and I might not sound like a moron
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